Abstract
Spatially dispersed industrial sites contribute substantially to industrial CO2 emissions. Hydrogen is a key decarbonisation option; however, its high flammability and the logistics required to supply dispersed sites raise safety concerns that remain insufficiently addressed. This work investigates the inherent safety of hydrogen supply strategies for spatially dispersed industrial sites. Centralised configurations are examined in which hydrogen production and conditioning are shared to exploit economies of scale, while truck-based delivery connects dispersed end users. Three centralised options—compressed gaseous hydrogen, liquid hydrogen, and liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC)—are benchmarked against decentralised electrolysis. A newly developed inherent safety assessment framework enables ex-ante evaluation through hydrogen supply potential and inherent hazard indices (HSPI and HSHI), integrating centralised operations, road transport, and on-site processing. Applied to a reference set of spatially dispersed industrial sites, the results show that conditioning-intensive hydrogen supply options can increase inherent hazard levels, with HSPI values up to one order of magnitude above decentralised electrolysis. When accident scenario credibility is incorporated, transport operations emerge as the dominant contributor to inherent hazard. Within the centralised configurations, LOHC-based supply exhibits the lowest HSPI and HSHI values and therefore the most favourable inherent safety performance.
